On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the statement “slandered and attacked China.”
He said at a regular press briefing that it “repeated clichés that have no factual basis, legal basis and moral justification, and are full of arrogance, prejudice and lies.”
The Group of Seven – which includes the United States, Japan, France, Germany, Canada, Britain and Italy – also hit out at what it called “dangerous” incursions by China into the South China Sea.
Concerns are growing about escalating military tensions between China and its neighbors, and according to the Chinese coast guard, Philippine and Chinese vessels collided near the Second Thomas Shoal on Monday.